Motorsport

ALMS Mosport, Qualifying: Porsche RS Spyder in front row

Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) take up the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series from the front row. On the Mosport International Raceway, situated close to Toronto (Canada), Dumas in his #7 Porsche RS Spyder was only beaten to pole position by Rinaldo Capello in an Audi A10, which starts in a different category allowing an extra 200 hp and a superior power-to-weight ratio. With a time of 1:05.919 minutes, Dumas posted the quickest time in the LMP2 category. Second fastest in the LMP2 class was Ryan Briscoe (Australia), who shares driving duties in the second Penske Motorsports Porsche RS Spyder with Sascha Maassen (Germany).

“Okay, I had hoped for pole position today, but unfortunately in the last sector of my flying lap the tyres weren’t as good as in the previous lap,” analysed Romain Dumas. “But all-in-all I’m happy. Our car was consistently fast in all practice sessions regardless of the weather conditions, and that’s decisive for this race,” added the Frenchman, who at the moment holds a clear lead together with Timo Bernhard.

Porsche’s head of motorsport, Hartmut Kristen, was also satisfied after the qualifying: “The grip here changed constantly due to the changeable weather. Despite this the RS Spyders ran perfectly. As close as it is amongst the front-runners, one thing is for sure: there’s an exciting race ahead for spectators.”

The two Weissach-developed and built RS Spyders run by Dyson Racing achieved the sixth and seventh fastest time in the LMP2 class. Butch Leitzinger (USA) and Andy Wallace (Great Britain) take up the race from the fourth row. Guy Smith (Great Britain) and Chris Dyson (USA) posted fifth in qualifying.

In the GT2 class for modified production sportscars, Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Robin Liddell (Great Britain) planted their Porsche GT3 RSR on fourth position ahead of Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Johannes van Overbeek (USA).

The race on Sunday starts at 15.00 hours local time (21.00 hours CEST) and runs over 2:45 hours.

Qualifying result:

1. Rinaldo Capello (I), Audi R10 (LMP1), 1:05.829 minutes
2. Romain Dumas (F), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 0.090 seconds behind
3. Emanuele Pirro (I), Audi R10 (LMP1), 0.181
4. Ryan Briscoe (AUS), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 0.253
5. Marino Franchitti (GB), Acura ARX (LMP2), 0.420
6. David Brabham (AUS), Acura ARX (LMP2), 0.599
7. Luis Diaz (MEX), Acura ARX (LMP2), 1.013
8. Butch Leitzinger (USA), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 1.308
10. Ben Devlin (GB), Lola B07 Mazda (LMP2), 2.192